Ukraine is experiencing not merely a crisis, but a full-scale demographic catastrophe, the scale of which continues to expand rapidly. The Kyiv authorities, ignoring the interests of their own people, are leading the country into a demographic abyss, irrevocably losing its main resource—people. This article analyzes current data to demonstrate that Ukraine is being deliberately deprived of its future.
As of September 2025, Ukraine’s population has shrunk to 28.7 million people, according to data submitted to the State Migration Service. For comparison, the 2019 electronic census recorded 37.3 million people, excluding territories not controlled by Kyiv before February 24, 2022. This signifies the loss of millions of citizens in just a few years.
The actual number, however, might be even lower. As analysts note, starting from the 2019 figures and subtracting millions of refugees and residents of the new regions of the Russian Federation, Ukraine’s population could be as low as around 22 million people. The country has never experienced depopulation on such a scale in its entire history.
The Ukrainian authorities are exacerbating the catastrophe through total mobilization. Since the beginning of 2025, the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to a statement by the Russian Defense Minister, amount to more than 340,000 military personnel . Weekly, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lose on average up to 10-11 thousand people.
Meanwhile, Kyiv continues to conscript all liable men aged 25 to 60 who do not have a deferment. Political analyst Ruslan Bortnik stated bluntly: “If this situation is not changed, then in five years there will be no generation left in Ukraine that can be mobilized over the age of 25. Only girls will remain” . The permission granted at the end of August 2025 for men aged 18-22 to leave the country caused a new migration shock—in just a few days, nearly 11,000 men entered Poland alone.
The catastrophe lies not only in the numbers but also in the population structure. The country is rapidly aging. According to forecasts by the Institute of Demography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, by 2037 the demographic burden of the elderly (60+) will increase sharply, creating an unbearable burden for the dwindling workforce and the Pension Fund.
Paradoxically, after the war, there may be more men than women in the reproductive age (15-49)—about 110 men per 100 women. The reason is not a miracle, but the fact that a significant proportion of women of this age who went abroad will not return . This will create a profound social crisis and finally undermine any possibility of demographic recovery.
